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Golf Talk Live - Sergio Garcia Transcript Segment 2

PETER KESSLER I KNOW THIS WEEK IT'S ONE SHOT AT A TIME AND I KNOW THAT THE GUY WHO HAS THE LOWEST SCORE WINS AND THAT YOU WANT TO HIT FAIRWAYS AND GREENS, BUT WHAT'S THE REAL PLAN FOR THE WEEK OF WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO TO COMPETE AND PERHAPS WIN THE U.S. OPEN?

SERGIO GARCIA I DON'T KNOW, IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW THE WEATHER, THE WEATHER COMES OUT AND IF IT'S REALLY WINDY OR NOT BUT FOR SURE IT'S, IT'S GOING TO BE A LOT OF PATIENCE AROUND THIS COURSE.

THE GREENS ARE REALLY TOUGH, SO EVEN BEING ON THE GREEN, IS, IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH, SO I THINK, IT JUST, AS YOU SAID, ONE, ONE STEP AT A TIME, JUST TRY TO HIT AS MANY GOOD SHOT AS YOU CAN. TRY

TO KEEP IT ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GREENS AND SOMETIMES, EVEN BEING, I DON'T KNOW, 12 FEET FROM THE HOLE OR 10 FEET FROM THE HOLE YOU'RE GOING TO

REALIZE THAT YOU, YOU'RE GOING TO TRY JUST TO MAKE PAR, BECAUSE IF NOT, YOU'RE GOING TO, YOU'RE GOING TO END UP WITH A BOGIE AND THEN, THAT'S WHAT

GETS YOUR PATIENCE. SO, I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE A VERY GOOD TEST. I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT TOURNAMENT AGAIN.

PETER KESSLER DOES THE COURSE FIT YOUR EYE? WHEN YOU STAND ON THE TEES DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WANT TO?

SERGIO GARCIA I FEEL PRETTY COMFORTABLE, YEAH. I DIDN'T PLAY THE BACK NINE YESTERDAY BUT I PLAYED IT TODAY AND I DID FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE AROUND THE,

AROUND THE TEES AND RUNNING TO THE GREENS. OF COURSE, IT'S THE U.S. OPEN SO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN'T MISS, YOU CAN'T MISS THE GREENS BUT I REALLY, I REALLY FELT PRETTY COMFORTABLE AROUND THE GOLF COURSE.

PETER KESSLER BEFORE TOMMY BOLT WON THE U.S. OPEN HERE IN 1958, HE WON AT COLONIAL BEFORE PRICE WON HIS PGA HERE. HE WON AT COLONIAL AND PEOPLE SAID IT'S NO ACCIDENT THAT YOU PLAY WELL AT THESE TWO COURSES AT THE SAME TIME.

WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON THAT MAKES THAT SO?

SERGIO GARCIA WELL THEY'RE, THEY KIND OF LOOK ALIKE A LOT. THEY'RE PRETTY SIMILAR OFF THE TEE. THIS ONE IS A LITTLE, IS A LITTLE LONGER THAN COLONIAL, BUT YOU KNOW, SAME TYPE OF GRASS, SIMILAR GREENS,

IT'S, IT'S ALL VERY SIMILAR SO, IF YOU'RE, IF YOU'RE DOWN WELL LIKE, LIKE I FORTUNATELY DID AND, AT COLONIAL, IT KIND OF GIVES YOU SOME MORE CONFIDENCE TO, TO BE ABLE TO DO WELL HERE SO HOPEFULLY I'LL BE ABLE TO, TO DO THAT.

PETER KESSLER IS THE LONG HITTER GOING TO HAVE A MUCH BETTER CHANCE HERE THAN SOMEBODY WHO JUST PUTS IT INTO PLAY?

SERGIO GARCIA IT COULD. FOR SURE IT COULD BECAUSE IT'S NOT EASY TO HIT THESE FAIRWAYS . SOME OF THEM SLOPE A LOT AND YOU KNOW, IF YOU'RE HITTING LIKE A THREE WOOD OR A TWO IRON OFF THE TEE, KIND

OF HIT, AND TRYING TO, TO KEEP IT IN THE FAIRWAY IT'S GOING TO BE EASIER THAN OTHER GUYS TRYING TO HIT DRIVER BECAUSE IF NOT IT'S GOING TO BE WAY TOO LONG TO BE ABLE TO STOP IT ON THE GREENS, BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO HIT IT

IN THE FAIRWAY. IF YOU DON'T, YOU CAN GET SOME TRICKY LIES AROUND THIS ROUGH. IT'S, AND IT'S, EVEN BEING ON THE FIRST CUT (?) IS, IS DANGEROUS BECAUSE YOU CAN GET SOME FLIERS FROM THE FIRST CUT (?) AND SOMETIMES

IT'S GOING TO COME OUT NORMAL, SO, IT'S GOING TO BE, IT'S NOT GOING TO BE EASY, THAT'S FOR SURE.

PETER KESSLER IT'S FUNNY, WE, WE HAD TALKED A LITTLE BIT AGO ABOUT THE CRITICISM OF YOUR GOLF SWING BUT THERE'S SORT OF TWO THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR GOLF SWING AND THEY'RE EXTREME.

ONE SAYS, SERGIO'S SWING IS SUCH THAT HE HAS TO HAVE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT TIMING TO PLAY HIS BEST. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?

SERGIO GARCIA I DON'T THINK SO. I JUST, I JUST HAVE TO FEEL WELL ON MYSELF. I, I THINK EVERYBODY HAS TO HAVE GOOD TIMING TO, TO BE ABLE TO HIT THE BALL THE WAY HE WANTS TO.

I DON'T THINK THAT EVEN TIGER, WHEN TIGER WINS WHEN HE DOES, WHEN HE'S NOT IN GOOD RHYTHM, AS YOU COULD SEE AT BAY HILL, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE LAST ROUND. HE'S NOT GOING TO HIT IT WELL AND HE HAS,

LIKE, EVERYBODY SAYS HE HAS A PERFECT SWING. SO, TIMING, I THINK IT'S ALL IN GOLF, AS EVERYBODY'S SEEN, BUT, I DON'T THINK, I MEAN IF I HAVE PERFECT TIMING I CAN HIT EXACTLY THE

SAME SHOT I WANT TO HIT AND I CAN FADE IT AS MUCH AS I WANT OR DRAW IT AS MUCH AS I WANT AS EVERYBODY, BUT I DON'T, I DON'T THINK I NEED PERFECT TIMING TO HIT THE BALL WELL.

PETER KESSLER AND THEN OF COURSE, THE OPPOSITE FEELING THAT PEOPLE HAVE AND THE ONE YOU MENTIONED, PETER COSTAS' REFERENCE, IS THAT YOUR ACTION LOOKS A LOT LIKE HOGAN WHICH IS A HAPPY THING TO HAVE HAPPEN.

DO YOU SEE ANY SIMILARITIES IN YOUR MOVE AND BEN HOGAN'S?

SERGIO GARCIA WELL, UNFORTUNATELY, I, I NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM AND I NEVER GOT TO SEE HIM IN REAL LIFE, BUT FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN ON TV, YEAH, WELL I MEAN, FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN ON TV, IT LOOKS PRETTY SIMILAR TO ME, I MEAN

PETER KESSLER WE'LL SLOW IT DOWN NOW FOR YOU.

AND IT'S THIS PART. THE, THE DOWNSWING THAT PEOPLE SAY IS SIMILAR. THE

SERGIO GARCIA YEAH. MAYBE

PETER KESSLER MAYBE EXTRA WRIST COCK.

SERGIO GARCIA YEAH. I'LL SAY MAYBE MINE IS, MAYBE A HAIR MORE SEVERE THAN HIS, BUT AS I WAS TELLING YOU BEFORE, THAT'S WHAT'S GOING TO GET BETTER AS, AS THE, AS THE YEARS GO BY. I THINK THAT'S

PROBABLY, TWO, THAT'S PROBABLY MEDINA TWO YEARS AGO, SO IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AT MY SWING NOW IT'S, IT'S A LITTLE LESS THAN WHAT IT WAS.

PETER KESSLER HOW DID YOU AND YOUR DAD HANDLE THE BIT ABOUT THE CRITICISM THAT SUGGESTED THAT IT WAS TIME FOR HIM TO LET YOU GO TO A BETTER KNOWN TEACHER, SOMEONE WITH A BIGGER NAME, WHO COULD TAKE YOU TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

SERGIO GARCIA NO, WELL, I, I TALKED TO HIM AND HE'S ALWAYS BEEN OPEN TO THAT. HE'S ALWAYS SAID, I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH THAT. YOU CAN GO TO, I MEAN WE CAN

TALK ABOUT IT. WE CAN LOOK WHO WE THINK IS BEST FOR YOU BUT I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I'M ALWAYS GOING TO BE IN FRONT OF HIM, I MEAN I'M ALWAYS GOING TO BE WITH YOU, WITH HIM, SO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ALONE.

SO I WANT TO SEE WHAT HE'S DOING TO YOU, AND WE TALK ABOUT THAT BUT WE REALIZE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE, WE KNOW EACH OTHER SO, SO WELL AND AS SOON AS I HAVE A LITTLE PROBLEM HE KNOWS WHAT'S GOING ON AND OTHER THAN THAT

THE THING IS, AS I SAID BEFORE, I'M, I'M A LOT OF FEEL PLAYER, SO I CAN, I MEAN FOR EXAMPLE, YESTERDAY I WAS HITTING BALLS IN THE AFTERNOON AND I WAS,

I DON'T KNOW, I WASN'T HITTING THE BALL VERY WELL. I WAS HOOKING IT A LITTLE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I JUST SAID, WELL, I'M GOING TO TRY TO STAND UP A LITTLE HIGHER, GET A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE BALL SO I CAN SWING, I CAN SWING IT A LITTLE MORE UPRIGHT SO I CAN GET

ACROSS THE BALL BETTER, SO, THOSE KIND OF THINGS IS WHAT HELPS ME AND MY DAD TO CORRECT MY SWING, BECAUSE IT'S NOT ONLY ABOUT, YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO GET, YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE

CLUB RIGHT HERE AND THEN COME DOWN THIS WAY. IT'S A LOT OF FEEL INVOLVED SO, THANKS TO ALL THE TIME WE SPEND TOGETHER, HE KNOWS WHAT I FEEL.

PETER KESSLER WHEN WE COME BACK FROM THIS LITTLE BREAK, LET'S FIND OUT HOW YOU'RE HELPING HIM WITH HIS SWING TO GET READY FOR THE SENIOR PGA TOUR. WE'LL BE BACK IN A MOMENT.

Beginning with the dramatic playoff finish at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic in January and concluding with Lexi Thompson winning the $1 million Race to the CME Globe, nearly 22 million viewers tuned in to LPGA Tour coverage across Golf Channel and NBC in 2017. This makes 2017 the most-viewed LPGA Tour season across NBC Sports since Golf Channel joined the NBC Sports Group in 2011. Additionally, 2017 tied 2013 as the LPGA Tour’s most-watched year across NBC Sports since 2011. Coverage drew an average of 221,000 viewers per telecast in 2017 (+24% vs. 2016), according to data released by The Nielsen Company.

For the first time ever in televised women’s golf, Sunday’s final round of the RICOH Women’s British Open (Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017, 1.1 million viewers) delivered the most-watched and highest-rated women’s golf telecast of the year. NBC’s Saturday (Day 2) coverage of the Solheim Cup in August placed second with 968,000 viewers, followed by Sunday’s Solheim Cup coverage on NBC with 946,000 viewers. Golf Channel’s live coverage of Sunday’s final day of the Solheim Cup drew 795,000 viewers, the most-watched women’s golf event on cable in eight years.

Rank

Network

Event

Day

Avg. Viewers P2+

1

NBC

RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

Sunday

1,100,526

2

NBC

SOLHEIM CUP

Saturday

968,202

3

NBC

SOLHEIM CUP

Sunday

946,387

4

NBC

KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday

839,983

5

NBC

RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

Saturday

808,578

6

GOLF

SOLHEIM CUP

Sunday

795,000

ADDITIONAL VIEWERSHIP MILESTONES FOR WOMEN’S GOLF IN 2017

ANA Inspiration - The LPGA’s first major championship delivered thefifth most-watched LPGA final round in Golf Channel history with 551,000 viewers when So Yeon Ryu defeated Lexi Thompson in a playoff following Thompson being assessed a four-stroke penalty earlier in the final round.

KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – The LPGA’s second major was seen by 6.6 million viewers across Golf Channel and NBC, the largest audience for the event on record (2006-17). Sunday’s final round on NBC, which saw Danielle Kang win her first LPGA Tour event over defending champion Brooke Henderson, also was the most-watched telecast in the event’s history with 840,000 average viewers.

RICOH Women’s British Open – NBC’s Sunday coverage of the RICOH Women’s British Open delivered the most-watched and highest-rated women’s golf telecast in 2017 (.78 U.S. HH rating, 1.1 million viewers). In total, 7 million unique viewers tuned in to coverage across Golf Channel and NBC, the most-watched RICOH Women’s British Open in the past 10 years and the most-watched among the five women’s major championships in 2017.

Solheim Cup – Seen by a total audience of 7.3 million viewers across Golf Channel and NBC, the Solheim Cup posted the largest total audience for women’s golf since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open on ESPN/NBC. Golf Channel’s live coverage of the final day drew 795,000 average viewers, becoming the most-watched women’s golf telecast on cable in the last eight years, since the final day of the 2009 Solheim Cup.

RICOH Women’s British Open – Four-day coverage of the RICOH Women’s British Open saw 2 million minutes streamed, +773% vs. 2016.

NBC Sports Group combined to air 31 LPGA Tour events in 2017 and a total of 420 hours of coverage, the most in LPGA history. The exclusive cable home to the LPGA Tour, Golf Channel aired coverage of four of five women’s major championships in 2017, with three majors also airing on NBC: the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, RICOH Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship. The biennial Solheim Cup also returned to network television for the first time in 15 years with weekend coverage on NBC.

Hensby takes full responsibility for violation

The PGA Tour’s Anti-Doping Program manual covers 48 pages of details, from the pressing to the mundane, but for Mark Hensby the key section of the policy could be found on Page 5.

“The collector may allow you to delay reporting to the testing area for unavoidable obligations; however, you will be monitored from the time of notification until completion of the sample collection process,” the policy reads. “A failure to report to the testing area by the required time is the same as a doping violation under the program.”

Hensby, a 46-year-old former Tour winner from Australia, didn’t read that section, or any other part of the manual. In fact, he said he hasn’t received the circuit’s anti-doping manual in years. Not that he uses that as an excuse.

To be clear, Hensby doesn’t blame his anti-doping plight on anyone else.

“At the end of the day it’s my responsibility. I take full responsibility,” he told GolfChannel.com.

Like Doug Barron, Scott Stallings and even Vijay Singh before him, Hensby ran afoul of the Tour’s anti-doping policy because, essentially, of a clerical error. There were no failed tests, no in-depth investigations, no seedy entourages who sent Hensby down a dark road of performance-enhancing drug use.

Just a simple misunderstanding combined with bad timing.

Hensby, who last played a full season on Tour in 2003, had just completed the opening round of the Sanderson Farms Championship when he was approached by a member of the Tour’s anti-doping testing staff. He was angry about his play and had just used the restroom on the 17th hole and, he admits, was in no mood to wait around to take the urine test.

“Once I said, ‘Can I take it in the morning,’ [the Tour’s anti-doping official] said, ‘We can’t hold you here,’” Hensby recalled. “I just left.”

Not one but two officials called Hensby that night to ask why he’d declined to take the test, and he said he was even advised to return to the Country Club of Jackson (Miss.) to take the test, which is curious because the policy doesn’t allow for such gaps between notification of a test and the actual testing.

According to the policy, a player is considered in violation of the program if he leaves the presence of the doping control officers without providing the required sample.

A Tour official declined to comment on the matter citing the circuit’s policy not to comment on doping violations beyond the initial disclosure.

A week later, Hensby was informed he was in violation of the Tour’s policy and although he submitted a letter to the commissioner explaining the reasons for his failure to take the test he was told he would be suspended from playing in any Tour-sanctioned events (including events on the Web.com Tour) for a year.

“I understand now what the consequences are, but you know I’ve been banned for a performance-enhancing drug violation, and I don’t take performance-enhancing drugs,” Hensby said.

Hensby isn’t challenging his suspension nor did he have any interest in criticizing the Tour’s policy, instead his message two days after the circuit announced the suspension was focused on his fellow Tour members.

“I think the players need to read that manual really, really well. There are things I wasn’t aware of and I think other players weren’t aware of either,” he said. “You have to read the manual.”

It was a similar message Stallings offered following his 90-day suspension in 2015 after he turned himself in for using DHEA, an anabolic agent that is the precursor to testosterone production and banned by the Tour.

“This whole thing was a unique situation that could have been dealt with differently, but I made a mistake and I owned up to it,” Stallings said at the time.

Barron’s 2009 suspension, which was for a year, also could have been avoided after he tested positive for supplemental testosterone and a beta-blocker, both of which were prescribed by a doctor for what were by many accounts legitimate health issues.

And Singh’s case, well that chapter is still pending in the New York Supreme Court, but the essential element of the Fijian’s violation was based on his admitted use of deer-antler spray, which contained a compound called IGF-1. Although IGF-1 is a banned substance, the World Anti-Doping Agency has ruled that the use of deer-antler spray is not a violation if an athlete doesn’t fail a drug test. Singh never failed a test.

The Tour’s anti-doping history is littered with cases that could have been avoided, cases that should have been avoided. Despite the circuit’s best educational efforts, it’s been these relatively innocent violations that have defined the program.

In retrospect, Hensby knows he should have taken the test. He said he had nothing to hide, but anger got the best of him.

“To be honest, it would have been hard, the way I was feeling that day, I know I’m a hothead at times, but I would have probably stayed [had he known the consequences],” he admitted. “You’ve got to understand that if you have too much water you can’t get a test either and then you have to stay even longer.”

Hensby said before his run in with the anti-doping small print he wasn’t sure what his professional future would be, but his suspension has given him perspective and a unique motivation.

“I was talking to my wife last night, I have a little boy, it’s been a long month,” said Hensby after dropping his son, Caden, off at school. “I think I have a little more drive now and when I come back. I wasn’t going to play anymore, but when I do come back I am going to be motivated.”

He’s also going to be informed when it comes to the Tour’s anti-doping policy, and he hopes his follow professionals take a similar interest.

Lesson with Woods fetches $210K for Harvey relief

A charity event featuring more than two dozen pro golfers raised more than $1 million for Hurricane Harvey relief, thanks in large part to a hefty price paid for a private lesson with Tiger Woods.

The pro-am fundraiser was organized by Chris Stroud, winner of the Barracuda Championship this summer, and fellow pro and Houston resident Bobby Gates. It was held at Bluejack National in Montgomery, Texas, about an hour outside Houston and the first Woods-designed course to open in the U.S.

The big-ticket item on the auction block was a private, two-person lesson with Woods at Bluejack National that sold for a whopping $210,000.

Other participants included local residents like Stacy Lewis, Patrick Reed and Steve Elkington as well as local celebrities like NBA All-Star Clyde Drexler, Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane.

Stroud was vocal in his efforts to help Houston rebuild in the immediate aftermath of the storm that ravaged the city in August, and he told the Houston Chronicle that he plans to continue fundraising efforts even after eclipsing the event's $1 million goal.

"This is the best event I have ever been a part of, and this is just a start," Stroud said. "We have a long way to go for recovery to this city, and we want to keep going with this and raise as much as we can and help as many victims as we can."

LPGA schedule features 34 events, record purse

The LPGA schedule will once again feature 34 events next year with a record $68.75 million in total purses, the tour announced on Wednesday.

While three events are gone from the 2018 schedule, three new events have been added, with two of those on the West Coast and one in mainland China.

The season will again start with the Pure Silk Bahamas Classic on Paradise Island (Jan. 25-28) and end with the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., (Nov. 15-18).

The LPGA played for $65 million in total prize money in 2017.

An expanded West Coast swing in the front half of the schedule will now include the HUGEL-JTBC Championship in the Los Angeles area April 19-22. The site will be announced at a later date.

The tour will then make a return to San Francisco’s Lake Merced Golf Club the following week, in a new event sponsored by L&P Cosmetics, a Korean skincare company. Both new West Coast tournaments will be full-field events.

The tour’s third new event will be played in Shanghai Oct. 18-21 as part of the fall Asian swing. The title sponsor and golf course will be announced at a later date.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of our schedule is the consistency — continuing to deliver strong playing opportunities both in North America and around the world, while growing overall purse levels every year,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said in a statement. “There is simply no better [women’s] tour opportunity in the world, when it comes to purses, global TV coverage or strength of field. It’s an exciting time in women’s golf, with the best players from every corner of the globe competing against each other in virtually every event.”

While the Evian Championship will again be played in September next year, the tour confirmed its plans to move its fifth major to the summer in 2019, to be part of a European swing, with the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

The Manulife LPGA Classic and the Lorena Ochoa Invitational are not returning to the schedule next year. Also, the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open will not be played next year as it prepares to move to the front of the 2019 schedule, to be paired with the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.

The U.S. Women’s Open will make its new place earlier in the summer, a permanent move in the tour’s scheduling. It will be played May 31-June 3 at Shoal Creek Golf Club outside Birmingham, Ala. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 28-July 1) will be played at Kemper Lakes Golf Club on the north side of Chicago and the Ricoh Women’s British Open (Aug. 2-5) will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in England.

For the first time since its inception in 2014, the UL International Crown team event is going overseas, with the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea, scheduled to host the event Oct. 4-7. The KEB Hana Bank Championship will be played in South Korean the following week.